The annual conference WWDC is coming up in 10 days. Which of course means predictions. I figured I’d give my predictions for what I expect this year, based on rumours, plus my own educated guesses. Here’s what I expect:

• iCloud - This is potentially the name of the music streaming service. The speculation is that it will scan your iTunes library and allow you to stream this music to any of your devices, and their own high quality, and it will work even if you didn’t buy the music from iTunes. I’m guessing this will cost $3 per month. It will also be able to sync all your music to all your devices wirelessly, eliminating part of the iTunes syncing. An interesting thing about this streaming model, is that it extends much more easily to a Spotify-like subscription model than the current iTunes. It could be just the regular streaming service, but now you can stream absolutely anything. I’m speculating that there could be $10 per month to stream any music Apple has on their servers (idea courtesy of @lo_fye). I would love this service.

• OS X Lion - We know that this will be discussed. I don’t think they’ll discuss it too much, but it sounds like it will be available through the App Store to install wirelessly. I’m guessing $50.

• iOS 5 - We know this will be discussed. Here is what I’m predicting.

  • Background polling - I suspect that there will be a new type of background processing. This new type will be to provide apps with a type of network polling/downloading in the background, on a schedule, but perhaps only when plugged into power, and connected over wifi. So, if you subscribe to a newspaper or a podcasting app, it can download all the newest material overnight as long as it’s plugged in to not drain the batteries. Then all your new material is waiting for you in the morning.

  • Icon updating - I suspect apps will be able to change their icons based on things that are happening in the background (more than just the badge that can currently be overlaid). For example, right now there is no way to know if Skype is running in the background. Or whether a podcasting app is downloading podcasts in the background. Or whether my note syncing app is fully sync’ed and up-to-date. If the icon has a progress bar on it though, or a sync checkmark, then it is clear what it is doing in the background. If you are logged into Skype, then it should change the Skype icon so that it clear it is running. This also is really a new form of notification.

  • Some type of non-modal notifications, perhaps that pop out from the top of the screen. In this vein, it seems possible that the notifications can collect in a list on the lock screen somehow.

• MobileMe - There will have a free variant. For free, one can get over the air, calendar, contact sync, and Find my iPhone (which is already free). This further reduces the reliance on iTunes sync for most people.

• iOS wireless updating - The iPhone will be able to update itself over the air on wifi. If you do this however it won’t backup the device. However, backing up will partially be possible over the air, using a combination of the new iCloud music syncing, and also in the following way:

• MobileMe will have a way for data to sync and backup from iOS and OS X and Windows to the cloud, and between devices. There will be enough space available to store documents, preferences and instructions for downloading bigger things off the web. So if your phone crashes and you need to restore, there is at least enough information stored in the cloud to either contain all the information for the app, or to have the information to download any information needed for the app to recover. There will be some folder on the Mac/Windows that syncs these app specific folders. If I were to guess, Apple will give 50 MB for free for each app (and each person) you have installed.

I don’t think much else will be announced. This is already a full show.